Southwest Quesadilla With Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream — Meatless Monday

By: Maria Russo Quesadilla with cilantro lime dip.

If you're new to vegetarian eating, the key to embracing meat-free recipes is knowing how to prepare a meatless dish that's every bit as satisfying as one with meat. When you remove something like beef, pork or chicken from a recipe, it's important to replace it with not just equally hearty ingredients so that you feel full after eating, but also with intense flavors and a mix of textures to keep the dish appealing. This will prevent you from getting bored with the same vegetarian standbys and allow you to experiment with new takes on classically meaty favorites.

In her 30-minute recipe for a Southwest Quesadilla With Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream (pictured above), Sunny Anderson replaces beefy proteins with hefty black beans, flavorful vegetables and bold spices. After sauteing onions and bell peppers until they're sweet and tender, she adds fresh seasonal corn and pinches of red pepper flakes and cumin for subtle heat and smoky taste. Tossed with fragrant cilantro, this simple mixture becomes the base of the quesadilla filling, which is rounded out with spreads of refried black beans on the insides of the tortillas, plus a generous sprinkle of pepper Jack cheese. The secret to pulling off Sunny's quesadilla is using 10-inch flour tortillas — those often reserved for burritos — so you can be sure the stuffing won't escape when the quesadilla is flipped during cooking. Slice the quesadilla into eat-with-your-hands wedges, and serve each slice with creamy, cool sour cream laced with zesty lime juice and chopped cilantro.

Click the play button the video below to watch Sunny make her top-rated quesadilla.

Get the Recipe: Sunny Anderson's Southwest Quesadilla With Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream

Southwest Quesadilla 03:05

Sunny pairs her Southwest quesadilla with a cilantro sour cream dip. Meatless Monday: An Introduction Make It A Meatless Monday Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup — Meatless Monday Minestrone with Gnocchi — Meatless Monday Watermelon Gazpacho — Meatless Monday

For a 15-minute no-stove recipe, use a blender to make Tyler’s Watermelon Gazpacho. Fresh watermelon gets a kick from serrano chile and a tangy bite from crumbled feta cheese. Make Mondays Meatless in 2014

This year, embrace the Meatless Monday movement with the help of Food Network's favorite vegetarian recipes shared every week on the FN Dish blog.
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